No end to Gulf War study

Published 4:00 am, Monday, January 13, 1997

PRESIDENT CLINTON decided wisely to ask his Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses to resume its inquiries for another nine months.

The group had just submitted what was supposed to be its final report, noting that no single or unique cause has been identified for ailments affecting thousands of the Americans who took part in the 1990-91 military expedition against Iraq. But with many questions about related health hazards still unanswered, the committee's negative finding falls well short of ending the controversy about a seeming rash of sickness among veterans and the slowness of the Pentagon to tell all it knows.

Without an all-encompassing explanation of the veterans' symptoms, suspicions about a government coverup are destined to continue. A new study released Wednesday by Texas and Iowa researchers found that low-level exposure to pesticides, nerve gas, petroleum fumes and other environmental hazards is a likely cause of illness among Gulf War veterans.

The presidential committee empaneled in 1995 and headed by Dr. Joyce Lashof did no better than most previous expert bodies in pinning down causes of Gulf War-related complaints that include memory loss, fatigue, achiness and insomnia. The group noted many veterans experienced health difficulties related to their service, and said the stress of the desert campaign appeared to be a contributing factor.

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Lashof attributed some of the suspicion and delay in settling the controversy to the Defense Department's slowness to acknowledge the possible role of chemical and biological warfare agents. In this regard, the Pentagon's "early efforts were superficial and lacked credibility." Increasingly serious accounts emerged only last year about the destruction of Iraqi arms supplies in which thousands of U.S. troops could have been exposed to nerve gas and other harmful agents.

Scores of government studies on the health effects of Gulf War service are continuing, and could turn up firm evidence linking the desert combat conditions to the veterans' ailments. Lacking such a conclusive finding, the "syndrome" may never be distinguished from psychological stress and a familiar range of physical ailments.

That will never satisfy countless people convinced the explanation is a dirty Pentagon-CIA-Saddam Hussein secret. So it behooves Clinton to keep looking, and expressing compassion, as long as his White House tenure lasts.&lt;